Sunday, June 29, 2008

“Staring at a pattern meant to evoke an optical illusion is usually an act of idle curiosity akin to palm reading or astrology.”The capability of our brain to retain the recent most images causes the human eye to create an overlap and continuity between disjoint images.A phenomenon well exploited by the media, world-wide!!!!

I often wonder if we see the world in which we live, or live the world which we see???????Or maybe we live in a world created by fewer people….fewer rich people…fewer rich powerful people……An illusion gets created day by day and we thrive on it like parasite lives on its host.

We feel lack of excitement in our lives when our daily dose of regular News fails to deliver a scoop, scam or scandal unfurling some ghastly murder, or betrayal of loyalty et al. Our minds have got programmed in such a fashion that in order to titillate it we have to expose it to the treacheries of the order of superlative degree.Amusing as it may appear, the paradigm emerging out of it is not encouraging.

“How much is too much” is a phrase commonly used to define “Etiquettes” by trainers in soft skills sessions; however I find its relevance in all walks of life.

My acquaintance with this particular girl who exhibits that the entire world is her best friend (and who also believes that the only thing invented by God for man to practice is friendship), is in complete contrast to this particular guy who prefers shrinking within his cocoon so much so that his presence is not felt even in a room of two people!!!...of course nature made us all different, but then these two people mentioned above seem to be taking it too seriously. Shouldn’t they be realizing that their disposition of too much of “friendliness” or “aloofness” is just not the way? Who would like over imposing bonhomie or cold waves from people around? ……At least not me.If you ask me what is the degree of affableness to strike a balance, then even I wouldn’t be able to tell you that. It’s something which we all learn since childhood from different people and situations around. So how much is too much is what each individual needs to realize by herself (or himself) after evaluating the person/situation which (s)he is in. Does it sound heavy and clichéd??? Impact of reading too much of Gyaan these days :-)

Another thing which reminds me of “How much…” phrase is the IdiotBox. With dedicated channels for News, music, movies, cartoons and so on, the idiot box seems to be doling out a little too much of entertainment to the people. Such commitment for entertainment by media was unheard couple of decades ago. But it’s all possible now. Thanks to the wheel of time. While one channel dishes out fresh murder and rape incidents spanning the length and breadth of the country, the other is absorbed in covering the important (??) issues like “Big B caught cold” or “Mr. Minister’s cat rescued” or “Mobile call causing death”. Now what I fail to understand here is that how a common man would be impacted by Mr. Bachchan’s cold, or Mr. Minister’s cat or Deadly mobile calls….. I’m still wondering…..

Well yeah, if entertainment is the sole purpose of these channels then hats off! They are perfectly on the track.

Minute-by-minute report on how the crime was committed or how the felon managed to escape gets administered to the people. Now this is where our mind creates continuity between the gaps. Our mind starts working upon the info provided and what it breathes is the ghastly act of crime. We become self-appointed sleuths and try unfolding the mystery behind the act. The satirical part was when one of my friend narrated a dream he had some days back….Nope dreaming wasn’t a satire but the cynosure of his dream….Aarushi was. So now who determines “how much is too much”? Do we really need information at such micro levels? Maybe this was bound to happen with the burgeoning trend of dedicated channels, with time being the malefactor here. Too much of time and no programs to air might have led the channels to stoop to such levels. Who cares?Overloaded with serious stuff…right…eh lets move to something lighter.

No matter what we pick – religion, politics, movies, work…all are infected with “how much….” syndrome. Religion and politics have assumed the hand-in-glove relationship. In absence of any real important issue, political parties have always relied upon religion. Now and before, they have cut their speeches to paint any issue in religion. Are they not able to hear the incessant screams of common man to shut their mouth? Being oblivious must be easier for the politicians than sealing their mouth.Serials and films aren’t too far either. Reality shows have a cut throat competition with each other. While one set of shows would give champions in singing, dancing, laughing (and God knows what all), the other set of shows picks the champions from all these arenas and pits them against each other to come out with a new Championa ka Champion…..now can someone tell them to put a stop somewhere….if things continue to go this way very soon every contestant would be able to boast of being a champion in some show at least….!!!!If this wasn’t enough the daily soaps have their own characters who never get tired of scheming against each other and this becomes a perpetual chain…phew….!!!My mind can’t stop thinking of umpteen scenarios in our lives which are closely or remotely associated with “how much is too much” fever, but I better wind up the saga before I also get gripped by this highly contagious and obnoxious malady or am I already touched on ???